These 5 Startups Will Change Health Care in 2018

Health care is an industry with the potential to drastically disrupt or improve everyday life. With companies launching solutions for messaging, artificial intelligence, and organizational structure, expect some much-needed disruption in 2018.

As people with more diverse backgrounds enter entrepreneurship, a number of unique sectors are rapidly rising within the startup world. Health care has demonstrated massive growth in the past, with companies such as Oscar demonstrating how health care startups can reach billion-dollar valuations. Beyond this, the last year has signaled a huge growth in health-tech trends, and startups are getting better at commercial innovations.

Watching the health care industry during 2018 will prove valuable for investment reasons or general market awareness. With companies launching solutions for messaging, artificial intelligence, and organizational structure, it can be hard to know where to look for the next big breakout. Based on general momentum during 2017 and the likelihood of serious advancement during the next year, these are the top five health care startups to watch.

1. NeoLight

NeoLight is a medical tech startup developing empathy-driven products for newborn health conditions. Their first device, which received FDA clearance this fall, provides care for infant jaundice, a condition that occurs in 60 percent of infants, globally. NeoLight is also developing therapeutic and diagnostic tools that aim to reduce hospital readmissions caused by jaundice. The team is headed by Vivek Kopparthi, a Forbes 30 Under 30 luminary for health care, and is backed by industry leaders like Dignity Health. Recent investors include Steve Case and NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, among others.

2. Joany

The clock is ticking on this year’s open enrollment period. However, thanks to Joany, signing up for health care has never been easier or faster. Joany’s unique platform database uses an algorithm to factor in personal information, including medication history and lifestyle, to deliver personalized health care plan recommendations. Their website is the only source that includes data on every health care option offered throughout the country (on and off marketplace). Additionally, the Joany free concierge tool helps with identifying medical bill errors, researching the best specialists and doctors in their networks, and generally helping people make the most out of their health care plan.

3. Orthly

Orthly is a Philadelphia-based orthodontics startup looking to revolutionize how people interact with the orthodontics industry. Orthly first launched in 2017 with an app that scanned teeth and helped save customers thousands of dollars on invisible aligners by reducing the number of visits to the orthodontist. Moving beyond this simple interaction, Orthly is working on expanding their services with more functionality and also hopes to continue adding more cities to their service map. Their use of technology to make a solution that truly benefits all players is what will keep Orthly growing and help them disrupt the health care field as a whole.

4. Helium

Helium is noted for having a “hassle-free platform that brings 10X efficiency to patient records and hospital management.” They built a straightforward user interface to help hospital employees have a better time inputting, accessing, and managing patient data. This platform has been particularly targeted towards African markets, where hospital employees tend to not have as much access to higher education and user training alone is viewed as an ineffective solution. Through their efforts, more than 20 hospitals have adopted the platform and seen massive improvements to their organizational management.

5. Modern Fertility

A pair of women from Silicon Valley founded Modern Fertility as a high-quality fertility test that can be mailed to you and conducted in the privacy of your home. Within the first week of their launch over the summer, they fulfilled over $70,000 in orders and saw continued growth from there. Also, they were selected as one of the top startups out of Y Combinator Summer 2017. Health care is not simply about the medical diagnosis, it’s also about the comfort of the person going through the process. Modern Fertility makes the process feel better.

Health care is an industry with the potential to drastically disrupt or improve everyday life. As investors and entrepreneurs evaluate the space and look for the brightest prospects, it is crucial to pay attention to how startups utilize unique business models to improve the results and comfort of different medical processes. Companies that can do both with a high level of success are the ones that will find sustained growth.